By Sunny Ikhioya

THIS month, the Federal Government came up with a new policy on foreign travels. According to press reports, it is designed “to curb leakages and instill financial prudence in the management of government resources”. Government also “warned that all public funded travels, local and foreign, must be strictly for official purposes and highly essential statutory engagements that are of benefit to the interests of the country”.

As usual, it is not really the policy that the people are having issues with, it is the workability of it. Experience has shown us that sometimes, while government is saying something, its body language interprets same differently. Quoting Bismarck Rewane: “…People are tired of being told one thing and then seeing another. If what you see is different from what you feel, then there is a problem of credibility”.

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You are putting a ceiling on foreign travels and expenses and at the same time presenting a budget that doubles your present traveling expenses to the National Assembly for approval. How feasible is that?

How do you convince the ordinary Nigerians in the street that this policy is done to favour them? We are aware that concubines and social workers are sometimes included in official delegations travelling abroad, especially for sporting events.

Same applies to assembly members on foreign trips, some of whom brought disgrace to the nation. A case in point is the Rep member accused of inappropriate conduct with a hotel staff in the United States. There may be so many others whose indiscretions are yet to come to light. There are some who are untouchable; no matter what the law says, they will find their way around it.

Early in the course of this administration, some officials were accused of obtaining favourable exchange rates against what the standard exchange rates were at that period. When naira was almost closing on N500 to $1, some were getting it for half the rate.

That is our way; those in position of authority will always find ways to subvert the system and with time, the policy will be found to have fallen short of the purpose for which it was created. So, if the President is initiating a policy and he is the one seen to be flouting it through his frequent foreign travels, how will the policy work? We are not saying that presidents and government officials should not travel; the world has become a global village and so interactions and visits have become imperative for countries to benchmark on progress that have been made; improve international trading through business expansion, open up avenues for new markets, reach bilateral/multilateral cooperations with nations of the world, open up inflow of funds, encourage diaspora earnings, technological transfers, trainings, defense pacts and respectability from the international community.

Foreign travels and dealings are very essential for a country’s growth and development but it must have focus. The focus or purpose must be the reason for which the trip is judged. Every trip must be assessed and reviewed to see what benefits have accrued to the nation from it. We are all aware of the diplomatic shuttle undertaken by the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Sochi, Russia, in the month of October and what came out of it.

He was able to get a good bargain from the Russians on the Syrian border crisis, which has helped reduce the tension that was building up in his country’s borders. What benefits have accrued to us from our president’s frequent travels? What have we to show for it? Have our military capabilities been helped by these travels in the war against terrorism? Have the trips resulted in more flow of foreign investments into the country? Have they earned us more respect in the international communities? Have they improved our industrial and agricultural bases? What about the numerous trips undertaken by government officials for such flimsy excuse as “seminar for good governance” in Dubai? Or of legislators junketing all over the places for one reason or the other?

Why should a government official be given clearance or mandate to travel up to eight times in a year, two trips per quarter? It is not for the big bosses to attend alone, the trips are for the real technocrats: engineers, doctors, researchers, intelligence officers and others. These ones have specific jobs to perform, trainings and experiences that will have positive impact on the development of our country; that is, if they are allowed to put their experiences to work. What have we used our engineers to do in this nation? When others are sending their best to learn and come back to make positive impacts in their respective countries, our best are going over there to stay; no motivation given to them to come home and build. What have we used our researchers to do? In fact, where are they in this country?

Where are our top class doctors? What are they doing abroad? These are the ones that we should focus on, create the enabling environment to make them come home and implement what they have experienced abroad; these are the ones that can make change to happen; the much needed technology transfer, innovation and the real training of the locals, especially in the areas of agriculture and manufacturing. Our politicians and heads of government  cannot give us that; the best they can do is to encourage the ones who have the capabilities to deliver and they must be ready to do this objectively, without sentiments of tribe and religion.

So, approving two trips per quarter is like pouring water into a leaking basket, pure waste of resources. Our love for everything foreign is one of the biggest challenges we are facing as a country; it is necessary for our researchers to do a proper study of this and find out what is responsible for this unpatriotic behaviour of Nigerians; we must find out the cause.

Is the leadership giving the right example? If no, then they have to retrace their steps. The President has openly canvassed for home grown solution, but he must set the right tone for this to become a reality. He should begin with himself; the Buhari we are seeing today is far different in attitude from the Buhari we saw in the eighties. This one seems to have love for tourism and a bit of splendor, unlike the very austere Buhari we the people were used to.

He should set the right tone, no more travelling; leave the technocrats to do the job and the leadership should face real governance. Let us not pretend about it, if we do not look inwards for solutions to the challenges facing this country, we will never make progress. If these foreign trips have been of benefits to this nation all these years, we would have ended the Boko Haram nightmare a long time ago. The dearth of industrial concerns in the country will not be an issue and Nigeria will not be classified as the highest poverty harbouring country in the world. Our foreign trips have become a serious drain to the economy; eight trips in a year is too much for any public servant, especially the political leadership.